The Story Continues; Firebirds Advance to ECC Semi-Finals with Historic Win over Dolphins

WASHINGTON, DC- The University of the District of Columbia's men's basketball team will advance to the ECC Semi finals this Saturday, after defeating the College of Staten Island 85-75, in a thrilling quarterfinal match up at the E.B Henderson Sports Complex, Wednesday night. The Firebirds improved their win streak to five to improve their record to 13-13, 11-6 in conference play, while the Dolphins hit the end of the road at 9-19 and 7-9 in the league.

Multiple Firebirds had season best performances to help secure this historic win over the Dolphins. Juanye Colon came off the bench to lead UDC with 22 points, shooting at a red hot 6-9 from behind the arc while swiping a game-high four steals. Micah Campbell was all over the boards, pulling down a season high 17 rebounds while denying a game-high five shots and going 5-9 from the field to total 15 points. Hartnel Haye was just three assists away from a triple-double, posting 16 points to go along with 11 rebounds and seven assists.

UDC took off blazing in the first half, shooting at an impressive 59.4% from the field whila also outrebounding their opponents 17-10. Colon knocked down four trey's, and Haye made 5-9 field goals to total 52 points, and a 17 point lead going into the half. 

The second half had both Firebird and Dolphin fans out of their seats, as CSI managed to pull within two points of UDC with just 2:39 remaining. A few seconds later, Colon responded with a big three-pointer that sparked a 6-0 run for the Firebirds, which coupled with the reactions/energy of the UDC crowd, secured the 10 point victory.

The Firebirds shot the ball at a higher percentage from the field going 30-74 (42.9%) from the field compared to the dolphins 29-74 (39.2%). They also dominated on the boards, pulling 56 rebounds compared to CSI's 36. Despite turning the ball over more times, UDC was able to convert more points of their opponenets turnovers. Despite also having smaller numbers, the Firebirds bench erupted for a total of 29 points compared to the Dolphins eight.

This marks the program's first ever ECC Championship game win, and their first appearance in the semi-finals since joining the conference back in the 2011-12 season. This also marks the most conference wins (11) for the program since the 2016-17 season when they fell to Daemen University in the quarterfinals. 

Next Chapter, UDC (13-13, 11-6 ECC) heads to Sparkhill N.Y. to take on the No.1 seeded St. Thomas Aquinas College in the ECC Semifinals. The game is slated for this Saturday (March 4th), at Aquinas Hall with a tip-off time of noon.